70

Previewing to media player

A project can be previewed in a media player by mixing and rendering the project according to the project’s properties and playing back using the media player associated with the file type you select.

1.From the Tools menu, choose Preview in Player. The Preview dialog appears.

2.Select the file type from the drop-down list.

3.Click OK to begin the mixing and rendering process. A progress dialog appears indicating the percent complete of the new file.

Note: You may cancel the preview by clicking the Cancel button on the status bar.

When mixing is completed, the associated media player opens and begins playback.

Prerendering video previews

Playing a project using the transport controls can instantly show how a project is progressing, but it does not actually render your project in its final form. The preview you see in the Video Preview window may be different from your final project in a number of ways: frame size, frame rate, and quality. In most cases, the Video Preview is all you need for checking the timing of events in your project. Eventually, however, you may need to output a full-quality preview of a section of your project. To do this, from the Tools menu, choose Selectively Prerender Video. For more information, see Prerendering video on page 289.

Rendering a project

Rendering refers to the process of creating a new media file from a Vegas project. The project file is not affected (overwritten, deleted, or altered) during the rendering process. You may return to the original project to make edits or adjustments and render it again. The following table describes the formats available for rendering your project:

 

Format Name

Extension

Definition

 

 

AC-3

.ac3

Encoded Dolby Digital surround sound format. This option creates six mono

 

 

 

 

files (WAV or AIFF) that your authoring application can use to create DVD-

 

 

 

 

Video or 5.1-channel music projects.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Audio Interchange File Format

.aif

The standard audio file format developed by Apple® and used on

 

 

 

 

Macintosh® computers.

 

 

MPEG-1 and MPEG-2

.mpg

MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 file creation are supported through the use of

 

 

 

 

MainConcept® MPEG technology.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MPEG Layer 3

.mp3

Compressed audio format. You may render up to 20 .mp3 files without

 

 

 

 

registering the optional plug-in.

 

 

OggVorbis

.ogg

A patent-free audio encoding and streaming technology.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

QuickTime

.mov

Apple QuickTime multimedia format.

 

 

RealMedia®

.rm

The RealNetworks® standard for streaming media via the Web. This option

 

 

 

 

renders both audio and video into one file.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scott Studios Wave

.wav

Standard audio format used with Scott Studios systems.

 

 

Perfect Clarity Audio

.pca

A proprietary format from Sony Media Software that is compressed and

 

 

 

 

completely lossless.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wave64

.w64

A Sony Media Software proprietary format that allows wave files that are

 

 

 

 

(practically) unrestricted by file size.

 

 

Video for Windows

.avi

The standard video file format used on Microsoft® Windows®-based

 

 

 

 

computers. This option renders both audio and video into one file.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wave (Microsoft)

.wav

The standard audio file format used on Microsoft Windows-based computers.

 

 

Windows Media Audio

.wma

The Microsoft audio-only format used to create files for streaming or

 

 

 

 

downloading via the Web.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Windows Media Video

.wmv

The Microsoft standard used for streaming audio and video media via the

 

 

 

 

Web.

 

 

 

 

 

 

GETTING STARTED

CHP. 2